Album Review: This Empty Vessel – NOD

First of all, I’ll have to fess up to knowing Gerald Josef of This Empty Vessel from his previous band, but that also means I have long been aware of his songwriting skills.

Josef and bandmates J Booth and Wes Bishop, with Jennifer McLane on vocals, are all experienced musicians, and that really comes through on NOD – versatile in referencing the past, never overshadowed by nostalgia.

The concept of the empty vessel can be viewed in two ways. The meaning known by many is in relation to being the one that makes the most noise. But it also has a biblical meaning, referencing being open to receiving wisdom from a greater power.

Nod, in turn, is the land where Cain was exiled after killing Abel. Maybe I’m reading too much into that – blame my Catholic upbringing – but the album does come across as looking at themes of the heart and soul, finding peace with the self and with others.

I was instantly wowed by the aptly named Prologue, a far-reaching arrangement that taps into the gothic mysticism of Dead Can Dance. That gothic influence continues in When You Can’t Wake Up, swirling and sombre, and though the title can be taken literally, the song can also be looked at as an examination of our inability to resolve ourselves to our reality.

Title track NOD has another meaning, in the UK at least, The Land of Nod being a reference to going to sleep. The song talks of monsters, but here, they appear to be largely in human form. Here, again, that gothic rock reference is noted, even though it doesn’t dominate.

The album looks at barriers to communication on Maybe, as does Joey’s Getting Mad Again – the inability to express what is inside having results as doomy as the storm clouds gathering within the arrangement. Hurt people hurt people, indeed.

I’m a sucker for gothic-infused music that finds inspiration in earlier times and that is at its strongest on Oceans and Blankets, with hints of European and Levantine folk rhythms. Sway and Japanese Tile follow in that vein, the lyrics of each searching for a meeting place, physical or emotional in nature.

In contrast, Knock Knock Road sets you flying out of the reverie created by the previous tracks, dissonant electronics paired with a melody that has a rootsy feel, but in a horror-folk way. The band has that one of the album’s key themes – that our past experiences travel with us – is at its most exposed here, and that is palpable in the ominous tone.

The band shows its versatility on You Don’t Want Me, and it is here that Jennifer McLane’s similarity to Trish Keenan is most evident. Rock for sure, but haunting in an outsider way, faith in the self is gradually eroded as the track unwinds. Even on seemingly straightforward love songs like 17, the band looks at the distance between people, connection and resolution just out of reach.

Though I have made regular references to the gothic rock feel of the album, that is best viewed as the rock on which it is built. This Empty Vessel take from shoegaze, folk, and Americana on NOD, giving the album a cinematic feel, for all that the lyrics focus on conflict and resolution and how the past influences the present.

This Empty Vessel has stated that the album was written as a front-to-back record; it is the individual and collective skills and musical life experiences of the band members that contribute to it being such a rewarding and revealing series of songs.

NOD was released on the 27th of February. The album can be streamed on Spotify, SoundCloud, and YouTube Music – for more listening options and to learn more about This Empty Vessel, check out the band’s Instagram.